St Clair, New South Wales

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St Clair is a suburb in Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located on the eastern side of the Penrith Local Government Area and is within view of the Blue Mountains.

The name "St Clair" has no historical links with the area. Originally it was the name given to a residential housing development established in 1970 by the Latex Finance Company, a subsidiary of the Cambridge Finance Company which went bankrupt in the year 1976. Previous to the aquistion of the land by the aforementioned companies, the area was formerly part of a larger area named South Creek. It was later, unofficially, known as South St. Marys, with the southern section being named Erskine Park.

The Land Commission of New South Wales acquired the land after a bankruptcy declaration and extended the area to create a large suburb. The Geographical Names Board eventually made the decision in late 1981 to divide the area into two separate suburbs named St Clair and Erskine Park, rather than call the whole area Erskine Park as many people had desired.

The original site of St. Clair was once part of Chatsworth Nursery, a branch of Darling Nursery, which had been established in 1827 during the reign of King George IV. The owner Thomas Shepherd developed an irrigation system utilizing water from Eastern Creek and a large portion of the area was covered with Camelia orchards. The nursery, famous for its Camellias, was moved to Colyton and existed until the end of 19th century.

Today, the suburb is bordered by Erskine Park Road to the east, the M4 Motorway on the north and Mamre Road along its western boundary. The suburb to St Clair's East and South is Erskine Park.

Its history was largely rural until the new housing development. Its population has soared since 1981 and is now a well established suburb with modern facilities with close access to the M4 Motorway and a refurbished shopping centre.

Considerable parklands provide open space for recreational activities and St Clair is renowned for having a family orientated atmosphere.

The suburb has one public high school, St Clair High School, which is located on Endeavour Ave but several St Clair residents are zoned to go to the nearby Erskine Park High School. Private High Schools near St Clair include Emmaus Catholic College and Mamre Christian College. Primary schools in St Clair include St Clair Public School, Banks Drive Public School, Blackwell Public School, Clairgate Public School and Holy Spirit Catholic School.

Three codes of Junior football are catered for in St Clair with the St Clair United Soccer Club 'The Strikers', the St Clair Crows Australian Rules Football Club and the St Clair Comets Rugby League Club. Rugby Union had one or two year short lived presence in St Clair during the mid-1990s.

The Blue Cattle Dog Hotel is the only club or pub located in St Clair or Erskine Park, which is on the corner of Mamre Road and Banks Drive.

Next to St Clair is the Erskine Park suburb, which is located on the eastern and southern sides of Erskine Park Road. Erskine Park isn't as big as St Clair in housing and population but will be bringing a massive boom in economy to the area with a new Industrial area currently in the process of being developed.

St Clair is currently in the Blacktown dominant Federal Seat of Prospect, which is held by Labor's Chris Bowen. Suburbs in the Federal Electoral District of Prospect within the Penrith LGA are Erskine Park, Kemps Creek, Mt Vernon and St Clair. Formerly St Clair was in the more Penrith friendly seat of Lindsay, with Liberal's Jackie Kelly the local MP.

St Clair is in the NSW State Government Seat of Mulgoa, held by Labor's Diane Beamer with her office based at St Clair Shopping Centre. Suburbs in the Penrith LGA in the State Electoral District of Mulgoa - Claremont Meadows, Colyton, Erskine Park, Glenmore Park, Kemps Creek, Kingswood, Mulgoa, Orchard Hills, Oxley Park, Regentville, St Clair, St Marys and Wallacia.

Traditionally, the area in which St Clair is found was inhabited by the indigenous Dharug people. By the year 1816 however, the Dharug people had been decimated by clashes with settlers and by contracting diseases brought to the area by Europeans. As time progressed, the traditional culture declined (as it did across the entire continent) and they became increasingly dependent on the settlers for their survival. Although they had always maintained a camp on or around the Mamre estate (which is found adjacent to St Clair, in the suburb of St Marys) the Rev. Samuel Marsden now sought to encourage them to work in exchange for food and clothing.

A famous explorer known as Charles Darwin passed through the area in 1836 and was impressed by the '...good humour and superior hunting skills' of the Aborigines he encountered around Penrith.